My Frigidaire Gallery Freestanding Electric Range and my Frigidaire Gallery Over-The-Range Microwave have finally arrived.
I don’t know who was more excited the kids or me. Here are my first impressions and some suggestions for the people at Frigidaire.
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Installation
The installation by a local company was a snap. The gentleman installing it arrived on time and didn’t need turn-by-turn directions and me standing in the street waving to get here. (It’s amazing how many people have a tough time getting here even though they have GPS units in their delivery or work vans.)
He took a look at my old unit and range hood, and asked me to remove the spices from the cabinet above the stove, since he needed access to install the microwave. After he removed the old unit, he gave me a few minutes to clean the floor, wall and cabinet sides – it’s amazing how much yucky crud had accumulated even behind the old stove in the last nine years. Thank goodness I was on the phone with GeekMommy or I would have hurled.
My installer also repositioned the electric plug since like the rest of this house, things were done a bit strangely by the builders. Even so, the install took less than an hour and was done with a minimum of fuss, inconvenience or noise.
Recommendation: I’ll touch on this later, but these new appliances are a bit intimidating with all their buttons and setting. A few basic instructions from the installer on how to use the stove top, microwave and stove would have been a classy touch. I’ve had home theater and satellite TV installers do that. Instead, the only tip from my installer was to clean the range with the special stove top polish (a small bottle came with the appliances) before using it to cook.
I know that may be impossible to train installers on every single product they handle, so another option would be a new owner’s DVD that would cover use and care. Also, coupons for stove and microwave safe cleaning products along with instruction booklets and warranty info would have been cool, too.
It’s GORGEOUS!
My first reaction on entering my kitchen to check out at my new appliance was that it was so pretty that it made the rest of the house look shabby, especially the other appliances. (We still haven’t started our bathroom remodel, painting and new carpet install yet since our tile/carpet guy is stuck on a project for another client. And boy I need a new dishwasher since mine stinks.)
Then I realized that I could take our counter top microwave and stick it in the basement. All of a sudden I had extra counter space, which made my small kitchen a little bit bigger.
After I cleared things away, I tried to put back the muffin tins and trains in the bottom drawer. It was much smaller than in my old unit. Well, after reading the manual I realize it’s a Warming Drawer. While you can still store things in it (most of my pie tins are now in the basement) it’s really to keep dishes warm. This is perfect for potlucks, during big family feasts over the holidays, or when the troops are getting home late and you want to keep a few dishes warm.
The microwave
After just gazing at my new Precious for awhile, I thought I had to try it out. But all those buttons! And those thick manuals! (Granted 2/3 of the manuals are in French and Spanish.) I figured I start by heating something up in my Frigidaire Gallery Over-The-Range Microwave first, so I opened it (nice solid handle) stuck a bowl of instant oatmeal in, set it for 90 seconds (the same timing I used on our old microwave) and hit start. Easy!
Ding, ding it was not done. Hmm, hit the “30 second” button and off it went again. So now I needed two minutes to make oatmeal. I figured it was because this was a more spacious unit than my old one. But at least the oatmeal didn’t boil over, which would happen all the time before.
My nine-year-old son was fascinated with the new microwave and immediately found the buttons for the fan and light that are under the microwave. Cool! I was concerned that once they removed the old appliances I would not have a fan or light, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Another interesting feature of the microwave is the bell. It not only beeps when it’s done, it continues to beep until you open the door or press the Off button. This can be annoying, though I’m known for heating up stuff and forgetting about it until the next day. You can turn this feature off according to the manual, but I’m not sure I want to. However, my husband finds it totally annoying.
Defrosting a couple of chicken breasts was easy once I figured out how to use the “defrost chicken pieces” setting. It’s really meant for a frozen block of food as it stops intermittently to let you break or stir up the semi-frozen pieces. Since I was defrosting two solid hunks of meat, it wasn’t necessary, so I’ll have to look at other settings to see what would work better.
Recommendation: If you’re using the microwave for anything more complicated than heating up a bowl of soup, you’ll need to read the manual. The manual isn’t bad, but it could be better. For example, I’d like to see a section on how to defrost and/or X or Y with a list of steps in a table that’s easy to scan and find what you need.
Also, since microwaves never seem to work the same way (ever go to a friend’s house and try to heat up something?) maybe a quick how to refrigerator magnet with some simple instructions would be helpful. I just know the next time my mother-in-law comes over, I’ll have to show her several times how to use both the microwave and stove before she gets it. A little quick how to guide right on the door that you could remove later would be handy.
My next post will be about my new Frigidaire Gallery Freestanding Electric Range. Stay tuned!
